I am so impressed. Way beyond my skill set!

Looks good. I would think starting from scratch would be easier, especially once you understand the process and have made some adjustments. If either light or privact matter and you want a little extra length, you could add a ribbon band or something to close the gap at the bottom.

I would like to tackle a similar project, but I really need the bottom up feature. Do you know if that is possible as a DIY?

Great job! You are brave for tackling the task IMO. I could probably figure it out eventually with my rudimentary skills but have lost a lot of my former patience for sewing. Ditto the suggestion for adding a trim piece if you want to close the small gap for absolute privacy.

"I made my first two roman shades out of existing lined drapery
panels, which were plain and ugly to begin with. They turned into plain
and ugly roman shades, but I was able to use them to correct and improve
my technique. I won't show pictures of those."

Rats! It's educational seeing the ways you should NOT make things.

lascatx -- I think I came across a tutorial for a top down/bottom up roman shade once, but I didn't save the link.

lazy_gardens -- I don't mind sharing what went wrong! I forgot that I'd already posted the "ugly" shades before, in a help-me post. Anyway, here's what I noted during the whole process.

These are the tutorials I used:

• How to Make a Roman Shade -- Sailrite

• How to Make Roman Shades Using Iron-on-Roman Rib Tape -- Sailrite

• How To Make A Roman Shade (part 1) -- Scott Weaver

• How To Make A Roman Shade (Part2) -- Scott Weaver

• How To Make A Roman Shade Part 1 -- Kim's Upholstery

• How To Make A Roman Shade Part 2 -- Kim's Upholstery

• How-To Make a Basic Roman Shade -- Rowley (plus many other videos from here)

I liked the look of the Sailrite roman shades, but decide to use the child-safe precautions in all the other videos. I bought the shroud tape and iron-on rib tape, and spaced the dowels 8" apart, tacking down the shroud tape at those points. The results were less than stellar... the shade looks like a hobbled shade (lots of folds throughout) as I'm raising it.

It doesn't raise flat as shown in the Sailrite videos. I realized this is a result of the shroud tape. It bunches up immediately in ALL spots, especially the top, which makes every segment fold up at the same time. I have to manually pull down to flatten the top layers to get it to look the way I want. This is what it immediately looks like when I start to raise the shade:

And this is what it looks like when I manually pull down the top parts to flatten the segments that aren't supposed to be raised yet:

Super annoying.

So, for my next test, I decided to do it the way it's described in the Sailrite video, with 12" spacing (actually 11.5") and rings sewn every other rib, and regular cord instead of shroud tape. I don't have very young children, so I'm not worried about child safety.

The result is the shade in the original post, and I LOVE IT. I might make my next one with shorter segments, but still stitching the rings every other rib.

I did do the tying method for the rings as shown in the first Scott Weaver video above. SO much faster than sewing!

Well the super annoying one still looks great when you adjust it. We are getting ready to redo a bathroom, then windows -- that gives me some time to look for tutorials and contemplate another project. I could have 12-17, depending on choices. That might be a bit much, but I only need one in each of two rooms and that could be a starting point. Thanks

Beautiful! You are so talented, and patient.

I attempted to make roman shades a few years ago. Never again! Good for you that you got it done. Very nice.

The shroud tape shouldn't make them look hobbled. Maybe you're catching the cord when you sew it on?

I don't think I caught the cord. It definitely bunches up within all the segments at the same time. I wish I had set it up on a shelf or something before installing it, so I could analyze it better!

Maybe you had it strung wrong?

I like the hobbled look (never knew it had a name) - but with your fabric you would need absolute perfection to make the foldover look good.

Very beautiful. I believe your fabric is the same as my living room summer curtains (which are now put away) that I purchased from Country Curtains. It's a very nice fabric and I like the subtle tones. You are so talented. I can barely sew a seam by hand.

I love your fabric choice. Very nice.